Deadbeat Slumlord Rauf Skips Court Appearance

Typically people would be held in contempt of court for such an act, but this "man of peace" apparently is held to a different standard.

At what point is he responsible for anything, or do we all just have to cower and quiver in his presence?

While the Imam behind plans for a mosque near Ground Zero was jetting around the globe and advocating for his Downtown project, a pair of dilapidated apartment buildings he owns in New Jersey fell into such disrepair that cops have to stand watch in the event of a fire.

The fire watch, at taxpayer expense, was revealed during a court hearing today when Union City lawyers asked to have two buildings owned by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf placed into receivership so that rent s could be used to fix dozens of violations, including inoperable alarms and sprinklers.

Rauf skipped today’s hearing as did his wife Daisy Khan. Their lawyer, Tomas Espinosa, said he didn’t know why the Imam didn’t come to court.

“There have been a lot of stress on these people,” Espinosa said when asked after the hearing to explain why Rauf was a no-show “The legal process will show that my client is an honorable man that has taken care of his property.”

Asked why he was confident that Rauf would prevail, Espinosa said of the Imam, “There is integrity and character,” adding, “He is a man of peace.”

Oh, OK, I've got it now. So if I'm ever ordered to appear in court I can just blithely ignore it and my attorney can declare me a man of peace and everything is peachy? Well, this man of peace if a documented slumlord, but apparently leaving two building in disrepair and endangering the lives of his tenants is alright because supposedly he's peaceful?

WTF?

Christine Vanek, a lawyer for Union City, said cops were put on fire watch rather than evict tenants from 16 apartments in one of the buildings after a Sept. 7 inspection determined there was an imminent hazard. Rauf, she said, did not respond to an order to hire a private fire patrol.

“The city immediately put a police officer there and sent a detail officer, which means we have to pay over-time,” Vanek said of putting an extra cop on duty just to watch Rauf’s building. She did not say how much it is costing Union City, and other officials did not return calls for that information.

Espinosa, however, said he was told a fire alarm contractor has been working at the building and is putting together a plan to fix the alarms and sprinklers.

But Judge Thomas Olivieri bristled when Espinosa said he had no documents to show what work was done or what might be planned and then asked the judge for more time “to come here with a total picture of what has been done.”

“The allegation here is that nothing has been done,” Olivieri said. “The city is spending taxpayer money to put a fire person, man or woman, at the building that is occupied to monitor it so that there’s not a fire that occurs.”

Olivieri then blasted Espinosa for coming to court empty-handed.

"There is no reason whatsoever, none, in the last 48 hours why your client could not have submitted something to you that you could have submitted to the court. this is serious. I am somewhat surprised that I have nothing from the defense -- nothing.

"And I reject that you were busy and they were busy," the judge said.

And to think this punk is on the State Department payroll and now Union City is footing the tab to keep people safe on his property.

But nobody seems to care about any of this. If this re-occurs we hope the judge would order him held in contempt and jailed until the case is adjudicated. Then he might at least show up in court rather than making the rounds as a media darling.